The Judicial Police of Portugal and the National Police of Spain have dismantled one of the largest cocaine extraction, transformation, and packaging laboratories in the Badajoz region, arresting seven individuals connected to drug trafficking.
The arrest took place on June 19, following an investigation initiated after the Portuguese National Drug Trafficking Combat Unit alerted Spanish authorities, stated the Portuguese police’s communication office.
The Portuguese police informed Spanish authorities of “the possibility of a truck loaded with chemical products entering Spanish territory through Badajoz,” prompting both police forces to start a “covert surveillance operation on the A-5 highway,” where the truck was tracked entering the ‘El Nevero’ industrial complex in Badajoz.
There, the truck unloaded a “large quantity of barrels containing chemical products,” according to the police, who revealed that the suspects took “extreme security measures,” using various devices to avoid geolocation.
Nevertheless, investigators were able to pinpoint the location of the laboratory used for the extraction, transformation, and packaging of cocaine.
During domestic searches, police discovered about 46 kilograms of cocaine, packed and ready for sale, as well as 20 kilograms of cocaine in the decantation process and over a hundred barrels with chemical substances (acetones).
Frequency blockers, tracker detectors, and several mobile phones were found, as well as nine high-end vehicles.
“The seven detainees, all men, aged between 25 and 47, some with criminal records, have been handed over to the competent judicial authority and remain in preventive custody,” added the press office of the Portuguese police.
